Getting Over the Past
by LivingInADream95
Summary: AU Lou and Scott as teenagers. Scott moved into the ranch to escape his past. The move has made he and Lou closer than ever before. Will they become more than best friends? Will their feelings for each other ruin their friendship? Can people truly heal from the scars of their past? Rated T for now, may change to M later depending on the content.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

 **AN:** This chapter is pretty short, but I wanted to put it out there and see if anyone if interested in reading this story before I start writing full chapters. If I continue this story the chapters will be longer, but updates may be slow depending on how busy I am with school and the move, so your patience will be greatly appreciated. This is my first Heartland story, so reviews and recommendations would also be greatly appreciated. I'm not sure where I want to go with this story yet, so I am open to suggestion. Hope you like it.

 **Lou**

As Lou lay awake in bed the night of her sixteenth birthday, she couldn't help feeling depressed about the day. It wasn't that her birthday was bad, everyone she cared about had been at the ranch to celebrate and she was able to sneak off on a trail ride with Scott to see her dad, but the one thing she wanted more than anything hadn't happened.

What Lou wanted most for her birthday was a kiss from the boy she loved. The boy she saw every day because he lived in the loft above the barn. The boy she spent every waking minute with since she could walk. The boy with the damaged past. Scott Cardinal.

She hadn't always felt this way about Scott. When they were younger, he was more like a brother to her, but after he moved into the loft last year, things changed. She started to see him in a whole new light. At first it scared her that she had a crush on Scott. She'd known him her entire life after all and he was her best friend. She would never want to do anything to jeopardize what she had with him. That's why she kept her feelings hidden. She wouldn't dare tell Scott how she truly felt about him. She couldn't risk it.

Even though her feelings were a secret, she never gave up hope that he would see right through it and would profess his love. Lou could admit that she spent too much time reading Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. She wanted Scott to be her Romeo, minus the whole suicide business. She wanted a more fairytale version of the story, rather than tragedy.

Her friendship with Scott was special. He didn't let many people in, not after the damage his parents did. He had a hard time trusting people. Even people he knew before the incident. Lou and her family were the only people Scott could be himself around and Lou was the only one he would fully let his guard down for. She was the only one who knew the full story of Scott's past and why he moved to Heartland. She would never do anything to break that trust or hurt Scott. Which was yet another reason she could never tell him how she felt. That could ruin everything and shut him off from her completely. Or worse, send him running from the ranch. No, she wouldn't let that happen.

Lou rolled over onto her side and curled up in the fetal position, her feelings for Scott and the memories of their talks about his past becoming too much for her. Lou spent the night of her sixteenth birthday crying herself to sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

**AN:** another short chapter, but the idea struck me and I wanted to get it out before I forgot and decided to update the story. Eventually chapters will be longer, but these short chapters let me update quickly when I get some spare time. Hope you like it! Reviews and recommendations are always appreciated. Thank you to those who reviewed the first chapter.

 **Chapter 2**

 **Scott**

Try as he might, Scott could not seem to fall asleep. This wasn't uncommon for him, so he had developed a routine that seemed to help. He got out of bed, put on a sweater, slipped on his favourite pair of shoes, which happened to be old ratty sneakers, and headed down to the barn. He walked along the row of horses in stalls until he reached his favourite, Copper. Copper was a young horse with a heart of gold. His colouring matched his name, which Scott figured was the reason behind said name. When Scott first came to the ranch, he was immediately drawn to Copper. He sensed a kindred spirit in him. Something about the horse spoke to him.

Scott slowly stretched his arm out and presented his hand to the horse. Copper walked the little distance there was to reach the door to the stall and sniffed Scott's outstretched hand. Scott gave the horse time to take in his scent before slowly petting the side of his face and mane. Scott knew it was important to take your time with horses, even if you were familiar to them. He liked the calm of moving slowly and taking his time with Copper. He found it therapeutic. It also seemed to help ease his mind and allow him to fall asleep when he went back to the loft.

After a few minutes, Scott opened the stall door and entered the stall. He stood beside Copper, petting his side for a few moments before taking a seat on a bale of hay and watching the horse. His mind was going a mile a minute tonight, memories of the day playing on replay in his mind. Today had been Lou's birthday. The day he had told himself for weeks that he would finally tell her how he felt about her. He had chickened out and his brain wouldn't let him forget it, nor would his heart. He knew he was letting the girl of his dreams slip away because he couldn't get past his fear of rejection. His heart told him to go for it, but his brain told him otherwise. Lou had so much going for her, such a bright future waiting for her. Why would she want to hold herself back with a guy like him? He was just some damaged teenager who moved to her family's ranch to escape an abusive drunk of a father, and a heroin addicted mother. He was damaged goods and she was perfect. They would never work.

Scott ran his fingers through his hair, tugging in frustration. Nights like this almost made him understand why his parents had let addiction take over their lives, but Scott didn't think life would ever get so bad that he could excuse his parents for what they did to him. The abuse and the neglect, it just wasn't right. No matter how bad they may think their life is, what they did to him wasn't fair. He hadn't done anything wrong. That night he ran away had been the best decision he ever made. Scott just hated that the memories and the self-loathing and trust issues followed him everywhere. He wished there was a simple solution to putting himself back together again. It was like a puzzle where all of the pieces are blue. It's a long process.

As the night wore on, the thoughts running through Scott's head became foggier as sleep began to take over. Suddenly the bale of hay he was sitting on became far more comfortable. Scott didn't think he had the energy to make it back to the loft, so he decided to lie on the bale of hay for a while instead. Before he knew it, Scott was fast asleep in Copper's stall.


End file.
